The Congress party on Monday boycotted proceedings of the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly, alleging large-scale mismanagement in the ongoing paddy procurement process by the state's Bharatiya Janata Party government. Leader of the Opposition Charan Das Mahant and other Congress legislators raised the issue during Zero Hour, moving an adjournment motion to discuss paddy procurement and claiming the government had failed to make proper arrangements.
The opposition alleged that farmers were struggling to get tokens to sell their produce and that paddy belonging to farmers with Forest Rights Certificates (FRCs) was not being procured. Demanding a detailed discussion, former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel called the matter serious and directly linked to the state's farmers.
Speaker Raman Singh subsequently allowed a discussion on the admissibility of the motion. Congress MLAs claimed that while paddy procurement at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the Kharif marketing year 2025-26 began on November 15th, the scale of mismanagement faced by farmers since the start of the season was unprecedented in the last 25 years.
They alleged that the registration process, which in previous years automatically carried forward data for farmers, has been made so complex that nearly 5 per cent of farmers remain unregistered, and registration of over four lakh land records is still pending.
Congress legislators further alleged that online registration and token issuance have become excessively complicated, causing severe distress, and cited the case of a farmer named Manbodh in Mahasamund who allegedly attempted suicide after failing to receive a token. Furthermore, they claimed that based on crop damage reports, most cooperative societies are procuring only 12 to 15 quintals of paddy per acre instead of the standard 21 quintals, and alleged discrepancies with the AgriStack portal were preventing farmers from selling their entire produce.
Baghel stated that as of December 14th, only 35 lakh metric tonnes of paddy had been procured against an estimated target of 160 lakh metric tonnes, and only 6.95 lakh out of 27.36 lakh registered farmers had been able to sell their produce so far.
Replying to the allegations, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dayaldas Baghel countered that paddy procurement was being carried out smoothly through 2,739 centres, and strict monitoring was in place to prevent illegal transportation. He said farmer registration for the Kharif marketing year 2025–26 is being done through the Integrated Farmer Portal and the AgriStack portal, and 27.40 lakh farmers have registered so far, an increase of about 7.5 per cent over last year.
The minister noted that FRC holders and certain other categories have been exempted from AgriStack registration and that the process is still underway. He added that the government has introduced a 24-hour token facility through the 'Tuhar Token' app, and as of December 11, ₹7,771 crore had been paid to farmers against MSP procurement. Following the minister's reply, Speaker Raman Singh disallowed the adjournment notice. Subsequently, Mahant claimed the minister's statement was incorrect and that the opposition was not satisfied with the response, leading Congress members to boycott the proceedings and stage a walkout.
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